Public Conduct in Clearwater, FL (2026)
5 verified public conduct rules for Clearwater, Florida, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Aggressive Panhandling
Clearwater makes it a crime to beg with intent to intimidate. City Code § 21.17 defines begging broadly, covering oral or written requests for money, goods or gifts, and bars conduct that would make a reasonable person fear imminent harm to person or property while soliciting.
Clearwater Ban on Begging by Intimidation
Some RestrictionsClearwater City Code § 21.17
(1)Definitions.(a)Beg means to ask, solicit, or plead, whether orally or in a written or printed manner, for the purpose of receiving money, goods or gifts of items of value for one's self or another person.(b)Intimidate means to engage in conduct toward a person in such a manner as would cause a reasonable person to be fearful of imminent harm to his or her person or property.(2)It shall be un...
Skateboarding Rules
Clearwater bans skateboarding, roller skating and in-line skating in specific public locations under City Code § 28.11, including parking garages, handicap access ramps, and any publicly owned benches, railings, planters or steps. Property owners can extend the ban to their own site by posting a qualifying sign.
Clearwater Skateboarding and In-Line Skate Ban
Significant RestrictionsClearwater Code of Ordinances § 28.11
(1)It is unlawful for any person to operate or ride a skateboard, roller skates or in-line skates in or upon any of the following locations:(a)In any public parking garage, including the access/egress ramp;(b)In any public access ramps or access ramps for handicapped persons providing pedestrian access to a building;(c)On any publicly owned benches, railings, planters, ceramic-tiled walkways, s...
Loitering Rules
Clearwater bars anyone, after a police warning, from willfully blocking sidewalks, curbs, bike paths, the Pinellas County Trail, malls or building entrances. City Code § 21.11(2) folds this obstruction rule together with a companion disorderly-conduct ban on violent acts, fighting words and lewd conduct in public. Violators face county-court prosecution once warned and still obstructing.
Clearwater Disorderly Conduct and Obstruction Law
Significant RestrictionsClearwater City Code § 21.11(2)
Obstruction of public places. It shall be unlawful for any person after first being warned by a law enforcement officer to willfully obstruct the free, convenient, and normal use of the Pinellas County Trail or of any public or quasipublic sidewalk, curb, bicycle path, walking area, mall or that portion of private property utilized for public use, so as to endanger the safe movement of pedestri...
Outdoor Smoking Restrictions
Clearwater bans smoking and vaping on every public beach and city-owned park under § 22.32, covering e-cigarettes and lighted tobacco except unfiltered cigars. A violation is a class IV civil infraction, $50 fine plus $10 costs, unless the smoking happens at a council-approved city event.
Clearwater Smoking and Vaping Ban in Parks
Some RestrictionsClearwater City Code § 22.32
(a)No person shall use, consume, inhale, exhale, or burn any (i) electronic cigarette, as defined in chapter 22.21 of this Code, or (ii) lighted tobacco product, including cigarettes, pipe tobacco, and any other lighted tobacco product with the exception of unfiltered cigars, in or on public beaches and public parks owned or controlled by the city.(b)The consumption, inhalation, exhalation, or ...
Public Alcohol Use
Clearwater bans drinking alcohol or carrying an open container on public beaches, streets, sidewalks, parking lots and rights-of-way, and within 500 feet of any bar unless you are inside a building or on residential property. City Code Sec. 6.31 sets the ban and its narrow exceptions.
Clearwater Open Container and Public Drinking Ban
Significant RestrictionsCity Code Sec. 6.31(3)-(4)
It shall be a violation for any person to consume any alcoholic beverage, or to possess any opened or unsealed container containing an alcoholic beverage, off a licensed premises and within 500 feet thereof, except within enclosed buildings, within an area occupied by another alcoholic beverage establishment when that area is licensed for such consumption, or on property occupied by residential...
Looking for Pinellas County county-wide rules?
County ordinances apply to unincorporated areas and may supplement Clearwater city rules.
Public Conduct in Pinellas County →